Call or Text Live ‪[phone]‬ Voices Cary Illinois Live with Randy Scott February 19th 2025

Call or Text Live ‪[phone]‬ Voices Cary Illinois Live with Randy Scott February 19th 2025

Episode Transcript

(02:00):
Good evening and welcome to Voices Carry.
My name is Randy Scott.
We are broadcasting from the beautiful village of Carry, Illinois.
This is your megaphone and this is your microphone.
Let me turn up the volume here.

(02:20):
This is an independent venture from me to try to bridge the gap between social media
and talking with your neighbor.
More too often we see just a disconnect from how polarizing social media can be and I have
this thing in me to where if I see something and I just need, I want to do something to

(02:41):
help.
So here I am speaking with you in a warehouse at 9 o'clock on Wednesday.
But I wouldn't want to be anywhere else other than right here with you.
I try to bring you, today we're going to look at, well first I want to let you know that
we have, audio, here we go.

(03:08):
I wanted to make it more consistent because when I started this many months, almost last
year, well it was last year but almost a year now, I wanted, it's hard because I have a
family and having a such schedule we're all busy.
But we all like to feel like we're part of a community and be involved in that community.

(03:31):
And one thing as April closes in, I want to, and even after that, I want to bring something
to you on a consistent basis here at 9 o'clock.
So here I am.
The phone line is available in the description.
Rumble doesn't pull it in.

(03:51):
We broadcast live on to Rumble X YouTube Twitch and we have on every podcast feed.
And the message is talk with your neighbor.
That is the boiled down first principle of why this show exists.
And when I say that this is your setup here, I don't, I'm not giving you lip service.

(04:13):
I actually mean that.
So today there's a lot of talk about the village of Cary.
This show is positioned to the residents in Cary, Illinois.
If you're watching and you don't live in Cary, Illinois, see what we're doing here and start
it for yourself in your own town.

(04:35):
We can all, I think we can all do good by getting back to waving to each other in the
car and being a village.
Even if you're a city, you can be a village.
But they recently had, the village of Cary recently had a discussion regarding fiscal
year 2026 and through fiscal year 2030 capital improvement program, which they refer to as

(05:01):
CIP.
And we're going to take a look at that meeting.
And the reason why I like to watch meetings, usually we do a live watch party of village
board meetings and it's not to play, you know, like a gotcha game or like they said a word
wrong and that this was messed up.

(05:22):
That's not it.
The main goal is to bring this to another platform to get you involved to where you're
feeling like you have a say in your community, which is something that we all want to have
done.
It's because we, you know, we raise our families here, our kids move back, and we want to make

(05:47):
sure we turn over a quality product to our children.
So we'll be looking at that video and that meeting and the phone number that's available.
You can feel free to call in or text anytime.
And then the chats, I get the chats, they compile onto a multi-chat.
I can't respond to you directly, but if you want to just say something during that, feel

(06:12):
free to call, text, chat, and we'll stop and we'll talk about it.
And a little bit about me.
I had no idea I was going to try to get into politics.
Like I said, I just have that thing in me to where if you see something that needs to
be course corrected, you want to get in there and do it.

(06:35):
And I have the fire service to thank for that.
My parents first and foremost, my family.
So that's what I'm doing here.
And I hope you guys can see that.
We have some other supporting documents to go along with that.

(06:57):
We can take a look at the rundown for the capital improvement program.
I try not to just show it.
That's why I like this format to where we're going to be watching it.
And if you have like, you want to sound off on something or if you agree with something,

(07:17):
call in, text in.
And as we do this more consistently, I hope the dialogue gets better and broader.
The capital improvement program, CIP as planning tool, used to provide a multi-year vision
of the village's future capital needs.
Capital projects are typically the largest expenditure in an annual budget, which makes

(07:42):
the CIP a critical tool for the village's budget discussions.
By outlining future costs for capital projects, the village is able to plan for funding and
project phasing.
The capital improvement program includes fiscal year 25, 26 projected projects along with
projects anticipated to occur over the next five years through 2030.

(08:07):
Each future project includes a cost estimate that is subject to change over time.
The CIP provides the village board, village staff, and the residents with a plan for necessary
future improvements and identifies areas where financing is needed to fund improvements.

(08:28):
And as we watch the video, if there is anything that I can value, I enjoy empowering people.
I analyzed their last budget and there was a lot of jargon in there, which turns people
off, including me, because you kind of glaze over it after a while.

(08:51):
So that's why I enjoy, if I see something and I hear something and I can provide context,
I'll do that.
And if there's something that I don't understand, I'll get it and have it for you the next show.
Staff analysis.
Village staff has identified critical projects to ensure the village's infrastructure is
properly maintained.

(09:13):
Many of these projects have previously been discussed with the village board.
The projects listed within the CIP are from the following areas, road infrastructure,
utility improvements, water and sanitation, commuter parking, Cary Lake at Rotary Park,
which is a park which is owned by the village of Cary and not the park district, central

(09:35):
Cary tax increment financing districts, TIFF number three specifically.
There's currently only one, I believe, but there's been a plethora.
Additional capital projects.
The village of Cary first reviewed the comprehensive CIP in February 2017.
The CIP will continue to be a part of the annual budget process and feedback will be

(09:58):
important to ensure the CIP is kept current each year.
No final decisions will be made at this meeting that we're about to watch, however feedback
is desired on the fiscal year 25-26.
And there was a survey that went out about this budget.
And when I breezed through the presentation that we're about to watch, I haven't watched

(10:25):
it in full yet, but I did not hear if they reviewed that or if they had, if they uncovered
the results from that.
It seemed like from the last few talks that there was a pretty good sample size.
So I'm curious to see how that turned out.

(10:46):
And if you do have any comments that you want to sound off on about your vision for Cary
or how you feel about certain projects, whether you're in favor or you disagree or in the
middle, I'd love to have your input on those.
And that also makes for a better program when it's just not me talking.

(11:14):
That's pretty much the entire meeting.
So we'll take a look at that.
And then I also have, and I can't stress enough, like when I pull out these, I pulled the operating
budget from 23 through 24, and I want to make it clear of my intentions of doing this on

(11:47):
camera is because it really has nothing to do...
I really don't enjoy pointing fingers.
I really enjoy what can we do about it?
How can we turn over the logs and see what crawls out?

(12:07):
And how can we make this thing more efficient while increasing services rather than just
look at this?
That's not right.
And then go on to the next thing.
That gets us nowhere.
So if you have any context that you want to add, I want to hear from you.

(12:28):
Yes.
These were the two pages that tickled my fancy from the budget.

(12:51):
It's revenues and expenses.
And I enjoy just boiling it down to first principles.
Like what's actually going on?

(13:13):
And this was 23, or this is 16 through 23.
And if you look, I mean, we'll just start at the total here.
8,314,000 came in.

(13:33):
8,162,000 went out in 2016.
And then 2017, I'm just going to pull from these two for example right now.
8,271,000 came in.
8,181,000 went out.
So we are pretty dang lucky that we are pulling in as much as it seems like it takes to operate.

(14:04):
Because any less, this means to me that there's services not happening.
And there's a few things that we can take a look at, which we will be taking a look at,
that could improve a lot of things.

(14:30):
And that's actually just done by being present and treating it like it's
your own money.
Like understanding where it came from, understanding how hard folks have worked to get it.

(14:54):
Because it is a different dynamic.
When you're a municipal corporation and you just get money coming in, you kind of lose
sight of like, well, that's somebody on work release working.
That's somebody that went out and bought something.

(15:18):
That's somebody that is living off of Social Security that took out a loan for property
taxes.
And I don't laugh at that.
I laugh at the fact that that's even a thing that we have to do.
So part of this needs to just be gone over with caring eyes.

(15:43):
And I don't say that means that they don't care initially.
But it needs some new set of eyes to take a look at it.
Because even if you go 2018, 8,181,000,000, 8,218,000,000, I mean, you're right there.

(16:09):
But we're darn lucky that somebody went to Jewel and bought something to make that budget
possible.
And it seems like if you're coming up right onto it every year, that gets my attention.

(16:34):
That there can be work done.
And like I said, the reason why I bring this up is forward motion.
Like we're all working.
We all have hard-earned money.
And we like to see it go to work.

(16:54):
And you're starting to see that at a federal level.
And there's more tools now more than ever to make it efficient and make sure everybody's
taken care of.
And that's what we plan to do.
So let's dive into this meeting.
It was a special meeting for the budget.

(17:16):
And first of all, we thank our local officials that they do this for us.
It's a big rubber band.
It's a big moving wheel.
And even though I have my differences, I don't claim to know everything.

(17:37):
But I claim that I want to get in there and make it more efficient.
So we thank our village officials for doing this.
Let's see what they have for us.
And we'll watch it together.

(17:57):
And like I said, you can call, text.
And if you hear anything and you want to add something, feel free to.
Good evening.
I'd like to call the special board meeting for the village of Cary for February 11, 2025
to order with roll call, please.
Walworth?
Here.

(18:18):
Collier?
Here.
Dudek?
Here.
Stefani?
Here.
Cowdick?
Here.
Would you please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance?
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for

(18:40):
which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Thank you.
Now moving to the open forum where the public is invited to make an issue oriented comment
on any matter of public concern otherwise on the agenda.
If nobody signed in.
If there's anything that anybody would like to talk about that's not related to the CIP,

(19:04):
you're welcome to come up and state your name and address and whatever you would like to
say.
But otherwise we're going to go through the presentation and then we'll have public comment
about the presentation afterwards.
So buckle down.
It will be just a little bit.
So happy that you're here.
It's nice to have people at the budget workshop.
One thing I do want to say before we get going, I had an opportunity today with our community

(19:30):
development director, Brian Simmons.
We met with the developer over at 2nd Street and 14.
We toured the facility, the new buildings, and they're quite nice.
He's got one sold, one with a hold on it, and a couple other people that potentially
could be interested.
So he's getting a lot of positive feedback in it.

(19:50):
So they look really nice.
So that was nice to be invited to check that out.
All right.
We have one thing on our agenda is a discussion regarding the fiscal year 2026 fiscal year
2030 capital improvement plan.
All right.
Thank you, Mayor.
Thank you everybody for joining us for our first budget workshop that will be focusing

(20:13):
on our capital improvement program.
Today's presenters that will be joining me will be Brian Simmons, our director of community
development, our chief of police, Pat Finlan, director of public works and engineering,
Kayla Noonan, our superintendent of operations and maintenance, Steve Kopass, and our superintendent
of utilities, Matt Anderson.
So this is a little bit of an outline and agenda for this evening.

(20:36):
We'll be going over the overall budget schedule, our meeting objectives for the CIP, which
is the capital improvement program, some of the summaries of accomplishments for our fiscal
year 2425, which is our current fiscal year.
And you can see here in the second column, there's an outline of the different topics
of the capital improvement program.
So these will all be reviewed in detail shortly with all the slides tonight.

(21:01):
At the end, we'll have a total summary of the potential five year CIP costs and then
a review of our existing revenue sources.
As I mentioned with the schedule, the first budget workshop this evening is the capital
improvement program focus.
Let the record reflect that Trustee McAlpine has joined us at 6.04.

(21:29):
So our first budget workshop this evening is the CIP.
The second workshop following this one will be Saturday, March 15th, at which time we'll
review the proposed fiscal year 2526 budget, along with a focus of the overall general
fund.
And then after that, the final budget consideration will be before the village board at the April

(21:50):
1st, 2025 meeting.
So some of the objectives of our CIP.
So the intent of the CIP is to identify potential projects for consideration in our upcoming
budget.
So it's very normal for this list to include projects that, more projects than a community

(22:10):
such as Cary would actually implement or afford, but it's just best practice to outline all
the different options that are out there so that when the village board is reviewing our
potential budget, that they're aware of all the different options both in the coming year
and multiple years looking forward.
So our main objectives are to identify, like I mentioned, and prioritize those major projects.

(22:30):
We want to ensure transparency of our multi-year capital plan so that each budget year, there
aren't any years minimal amount of new ideas and surprises coming up, so that most of these
projects you have, you the board and you the public have seen ahead of time as much as
possible.
The other objective is to receive feedback, which is why we have two separate workshops

(22:51):
for review and public comment about the projects and proposals, as well as the final meeting
for the budget approval.
And then lastly, the document itself then becomes a guide for staff to aid in implementing
the budget itself.
And as a reminder for today's meeting, it is for discussion only, so no final decisions
are made at this time.
These are all precursor to the actual budget preparation and the ultimate approval of the

(23:14):
budget, which would be the April 1st meeting for consideration.
And as in past presentations of the CIP, we're just reminding everyone that the other goal
in preparing this plan is to align it with our strategic priorities.
So these seven priorities here were first established and then added to an amended from

(23:36):
the original 2014 strategic plan, and then as I mentioned, the last 10 years we've done
many updates and added to them, most recently including environmental sustainability in
the last CIP to the priority list.
Now we're going to go through some of our FY 24-25 accomplishments.
I'm going to turn it over first to Director Simmons for community development.

(24:00):
This slide just summarizes a few of the accomplishments for the past year within the community development
department.
As the board's aware, we continued with the implementation of the Central Cary TIF district
this past year as the first year actually of the TIF.
So we began operations budgeting for future projects that the TIF may be able to participate

(24:24):
in or accomplish with public infrastructure improvements within the planned area.
With that new TIF district, we were able to come to an agreement with the Cary School
District 26 for an IGA for the transfer of the Maplewood property to the Village of Cary.
And then through that acquisition, we began a RFP process to select a developer to potentially

(24:52):
redevelop that site.
And I wanted to describe this graph here of what you're looking at.
If you're not familiar with this type of graph, this in the center here of this slide, is

(25:18):
a visual of the larger, for those of you that have never seen a graph like this, the larger
the font is, the more time that they've spent on that.
And I don't know where they get the metrics from or if this was just generated by how
they feel or if this was actually generated for them.
But according to this graph, planning, building permits, and zoning were their heavy hitters

(25:45):
for what they have been focusing on.
So we're continuing through that effort as we speak today, but it was an accomplishment
nonetheless for the past year.
We also implemented a new economic development website, choosecary.com, where individuals

(26:07):
can find information that are looking for a new business location.
You can go to that website to find information on the community or also new residents that
are looking for information on the carry.
There's a one-stop shop, if you will, for finding information regarding the community
for potentially relocating to our community.

(26:28):
Within that, there also is a restaurant map that we created to provide additional information
for individuals, restaurants in the community as far as what offerings they provide and
then where they're located at so individuals can order from those establishments and potentially
have food delivered to downtown if they're in our Spring Street area in the Rostov Valley.

(26:50):
On the building permit side, we are continuing to enhance our utilization of our new permitting
software that we implemented a few years ago.
We've refined some of our processes within the department utilizing the nature of that
software system, so continuing to refine how we're able to receive and process building

(27:12):
permits.
For this past year, we issued over 1,100 building permits and about 2,500 inspections, so that
software system has helped significantly with that.
Also this past year, we did do some significant updates to our building permit fees that hadn't
been reviewed for a while.
We adopted new fees in the summer months and also adopted new building codes, refresh for

(27:37):
current building trends that we're seeing in the area, international building codes.
So that highlights a few of the updates or accomplishments that the community development
department saw this past year.
Just a brief slide again to summarize where the business climate is in town.
This is a slide that we typically show during the mayor's presentation on an annual basis,

(28:00):
but occupancy in the community remains strong with our commercial sectors, industrial, retail,
and office.
Total occupancy is less than about, or total vacancy I should say, is roughly around 2%
of those spaces in the community, which is significantly less than it was about 10 years
ago.

(28:21):
When I actually started working in the village, you've seen a steady decline.
We do have a blip where things have gone up, but still we're at that 2% where a property
does become available in town.
It is quickly absorbed, usually for another user.

(28:43):
Some of the accomplishments for the police department for this fiscal year included the
upgrade of the outdoor siren notification system to motor-worn, apt-worn system.
It uses the same communications platform that we use for our portable mobile radios, and
it's secure.
Just to remind you that out in Harvard they had someone that was able to activate their

(29:07):
sirens without just transmitting a tone over their radio frequency, and now this will prevent
that from occurring, and they can be activated independently.
We've implemented our body-worn camera program.
We had to statutorily January 1st, 2025, and we met that deadline.

(29:32):
We are part of the McHenry County Regional Training Facility, and the firearms range,
the training range, opened during this fiscal year.
Last fiscal year the training center opened as well.
Our police commission was very busy in terms of establishing a sergeant's promotional

(29:55):
register and the eligibility register, and during this time period for the calendar year
we hired five patrol officers, but during the fiscal year we hired four.
So they're on the road.
We have one police officer in field training right now, otherwise everyone else is on their
own.

(30:16):
In the records section with the implementation of the body-worn cameras, we anticipated a
need for an additional person in records.
So we have three full-time personnel in there with one of the individuals promoted to supervisory
position.
We currently use Lexapol as our system for our policies, and it's really risk-management-based,

(30:41):
and we achieved the goal-level recognition for our accomplishments in regards to that.
We hired our 27th sworn department member, and one additional member was then assigned
to our investigation section, which allows us to have two detectives and then one school

(31:01):
resource officer that we have in that section.
Our personnel have been involved in some mutual aid teams, specifically the major investigation
assistance team, where two of our members, a deputy chief and a sergeant, are part of
the officer-involved shooting and custody death investigation team, and the deputy chief,

(31:23):
Chad Fetzer, is the assistant commander for that team.
Additionally, we have a sergeant, Perry Mercury, that is the commander for the McHenry County
major crash assistance team.
He just finished his traffic crash reconstruction, so statutorily he can investigate those traffic

(31:48):
crashes from another agency if it involves a police officer that occurs with great bodily
harm or a death that may occur in that traffic crash.
Then within the Public Works Department, another busy year.

(32:09):
We've responded to over 1,600 Julie locates, responded to 14 winter events, with a few
more coming in the next couple of days, assessed 606 trees, removed 69 of those trees, planted
66 and trimmed 541.
We use our annual brush collection, where we collected over 430 piles of brush.

(32:33):
Outside of those statistics, we completed our inaugural Public Works of Art program
with the surrounding schools, where we put murals on both the water and wastewater buildings
throughout town.
We're already planning on implementing a new program, again this year working with the

(32:54):
schools.
Just started that with their second semester of school here.
We also finalized a collective bargaining agreement with the employees that goes through
fiscal year 2028, and we started the replacement of our lead service line program with 26 lines

(33:18):
replaced this year, which is roughly about half, which we'll get into in a little bit
more detail here shortly.
And from the Village Administrator's Office, which is the catch-all department that includes
administration, budget, finance, GIS, human resources, IT, and legal risk management,

(33:40):
first accomplishment was the completion of an organizational assessment, which is the
first of two phases that I'll go over a bit more on a subsequent slide, but it did give
us a framework for some staffing and org chart changes that we made.
We updated the welcome video, which we will show the public here in a moment as well.

(34:00):
Finance Department successfully completed the latest clean opinion for the audit and also
maintained our very strong AA2 bond rating, which was reinforced and updated as part of
the debt issuance for the Maplewood TIF assistance.
Carrier Main Street Fest, the event returned last year successfully, and the staff did

(34:25):
perform the planning and implementation along with the Chamber of Commerce, and we're in
full force with the next year planning for the 2025 event.
A budget priority survey, which was utilized as part of the framework for this CIP presentation
and analysis that was completed and released this year, along with a map-based report concern

(34:47):
system.
So we replaced our online service request system with a new map-based version that is
utilized to help Public Works and all operating departments respond to requests and concerns
from the public.
And then finally, we also implemented a new enterprise resource planning system, so similar
to the Community Development Department from the permitting side.

(35:09):
It's now under one umbrella of software for utility billing, accounts payable, and payroll
as well.
As I mentioned, we have the new welcome video, which if you'll indulge me, we'll play this
for you here.
It's now under one umbrella of software for utility billing, accounts payable, and payroll

(38:18):
the
next slide. Sorry about that.
All right. Next we're going to
talk a little bit about workforce
development which is not only
part of our capital improvement
presentation but I included this
because the personnel on our
team here at the Village of

(38:39):
Curie are the ones that do all
the work planning and
implementing all these capital
improvement projects so I wanted
to give this a little bit of
attention as it is an important
point to make.
I mentioned earlier the
organizational assessment that
was performed on the community
development, public works and
village administrator's office
for the nonunion staff. We'll
look at police in a later phase.

(39:02):
Two of those first phases of
recommendations we actually have
implemented due to some planned
retirements and some unexpected
employee movement. So the first
recommendations included
converting a permit coordinator
and then changing a customer
service specialist position who
retired recently to a new permit
assistant. That position actually

(39:24):
is being advertised currently and
we're hoping to fill that in the
coming months. The recommendation
and review of our operations
showed that this study concluded
that the economic development
specialist should continue to be
a part-time position based on our
current needs and plan and that
the current part-time property
maintenance inspector should also

(39:46):
remain a part-time position for
the time being. On the public
works side the recent retirement
of our deputy director of public
works facilitated a new change to
add a superintendent of utilities
position which is now filled with
the recent promotion of Matt
Anderson and also the recent
departure of our assistant to the
public works director who took a

(40:07):
job in another community. The
recommendation was to turn that
position to a more focused capital
manager position. We anticipate
filling that position in the next
few weeks as well. And then the
village administrator's office
department, the recommendations
were to consider converting the
elected village clerk position
which has been actually vacant

(40:29):
the last several elections due
to lack of an interested person
to run for the office to an
appointed position but that would
require a referendum for not
home-grown communities so that's
the recommendation.
And then the other recommendations
related to human resources and
communications and it suggested
that it would be prudent.

(40:51):
So if you look at this slide
right now that Mr.
Marimoto, the village
administrator is going over,
which he is a very good resource
and smart man to deal with. He's
been very helpful with my requests
and stuff. If you look at the
public works recommendations, the

(41:13):
deputy director of public works
position to superintendent of
utilities but then the one that
got my attention was assistant to
the public works director to
capital projects manager. So the
capital projects is telling me
that they're allocating resources
away from public works to maybe

(41:35):
move to what it says, capital
projects manager, which is what
they're doing with all that
$12, $13 million project which
they're funding some through
grants and some through higher
water bills that will all feel to

(41:56):
facilitate that growth off of
route 31 for those apartments and
that retail venture. So that's
that might be a red flag to me to
where you're moving people away
from the operations of public
works to have them be at a desk

(42:17):
worrying about these capital
projects that are like HR Green is
an outside consultant for this
that they hire to take care of
some of these issues. So now
you're pulling away resources
from public works to deal with

(42:38):
expansion that most residents
don't want that would be turning
your that the road they're trying
to blow through all the way to
route 31 which is going to turn
that road into a into a speedway
potentially. So we haven't had all

(43:01):
it come in yet to where we're
going to see how the residents
feel about that. They haven't
really pulled the audience.
That's why I'm having these
discussions with you to where I
want to hear what you have to
say. I want to hear you know you
can text call and let's continue
with the meeting here.
For the village to consider in

(43:23):
the future making a separate
position to focus on all the
wide variety of HR needs that
the village has instead of
having that relied upon as a
partial part-time duty within
existing positions which
primarily is handled by our
system village administrator.
And then this is the organizational
chart that is the result of our

(43:45):
current work chart. That is a
result of the recent changes to
our personnel from that study.
And then lastly just based on the
culture of professional
development that we have here.
I just wanted to share with the
public that we are very proud of
our team and their expertise.
And these are just a list of the
different certifications and

(44:06):
licenses that we have village
wide ranging from police
training to building
certifications to planning
certifications and engineering
licenses. We have a very
talented crew which is very
important for a lean staff to
implement a very complex capital
improvement program like we have
tonight.

(44:27):
Now I'm going to turn it over to
Director Simmons to talk a bit
about community image and
engagements.
Thank you. We have done for
previous CIPs planning processes
to kind of determine what type of
recommendations should be made as
far as community input. We have
performed a survey back in 2020.
It was the last time it was

(44:48):
performed just before the start
of the COVID pandemic. Had 142
responses at that time period.
And as far as the focus of items
that the public wanted to see at
that time, the main two areas
that they wanted to see were
essentially roads and
infrastructure looking for the
community to spend dollars

(45:10):
towards those types of
improvements. As part of this
process to help the board with
making additional decisions
within the CIP, the village
again performed an analysis this
year. Had a survey that was
available to the public for
review. Had more respondents in
the last survey that was
received back in 2020. About

(45:31):
180 individuals responded to
the survey this time. The
results you can see on the slide
here. Specifically for the main
topic that the village wanted to
see planned for, the highest
categories that had responses
for three most important items
again were infrastructure,
looking at drinking water,

(45:52):
roads, bicycle pedestrian
facilities were infrastructure
projects that were highlighted
as is additional economic
development was also
highlighted as an important
aspect that the community wants
to see. Specifically focusing on
downtown Cary, there was a
response for additional public

(46:13):
gathering spaces which the
village has planned. As you'll
see within the CIP presentation
this evening, there is public
gathering spaces planned for
in the upcoming years within the
CIP but also there is a desire
for more special events. So
looking at the farmers market,
the cruise nights, mainstream
fest, things that we have been
doing downtown looking for

(46:35):
potential ways that you can
possibly encourage additional
activity within the downtown
area as well. And then separate
focus questions, we're looking
at Rotary Park as well and it's
obvious to see where the
majority of the responses came.
We're looking for paved trails
at that facility. So that's the
highlight from that specific

(46:57):
property but there are additional
requests for other amenities out
there that would improve the
enjoyment of that property
looking for potential
additional bathrooms, restroom
facilities, or amenities that
people could utilize as they're
visiting that site.
Excuse me.
Are we waiting to comment or ask
questions?
I'm not seeing it in the

(47:19):
slides but can I see numbers at
a later time that's associated
with this bar chart? So I just
want to actually see. So for
drinking water, is that two
people, is that 10 people, is
that 100 people, what is that?
Yeah, we can provide that
information.
Thank you.
And kind of leading into the

(47:41):
comments we saw in the survey
for more public events, one of
the other initiatives that the
staff has been asked to look at
is the potential creation of an
arts and events commission in
order to help facilitate the
planning of current and new
events as well as facilitate
maybe the selection of our
longer-term public art desires

(48:02):
as well. So this is something
that the Village staff will be
bringing before for discussion
to the board at a future meeting
but it is something that everyone
should be aware of that is in
the radar.
And we mentioned earlier the
return of Cary Main Street Fest
last year was a resounding

(48:23):
success and we are still planning
for the next iteration of it
this coming fall. Now we're
moving from a two-day event to a
three-day event so Friday, I
believe September 19, Saturday
the 20th and Sunday the 21st.
We're still proposing to partner
with the Cary Chamber of
Commerce and that is a 50-50
split of expenses up front with

(48:45):
the Cary Chamber of Commerce
and that is a $25,000 per year
and with the feedback for the
desire for additional events
we're also looking for some
direction and feedback on
whether or not there is a desire
for more partnerships and more
events and our two primary
locations where there's the most
opportunity of course are Cary

(49:07):
Lake and downtown. With Cary
Lake you could see some example
opportunities are maybe some
of the more open spaces that
we have in the area. We have
some outdoor movie viewing
whether it's a screen that's
installed in the water and viewed
from the shore or you can even
have some instead of a drive-in
theater you can look at a concept

(49:29):
of a paddle-up theater perhaps
with our vendor that we have for
kayak rentals. There's also many
opportunities for live music and
food trucks that we haven't had
too much of yet at the Cary
Lake. We have plenty of activity
in the summertime with cruise
night and the farmers market but
there could be opportunity for
more events especially in the

(49:51):
springtime perhaps tied to other
events that are drawing crowds to
the community like the March
Madness Marathon that happens in
a few weeks actually. So any
comments from the board with
regard to the
So this is an interesting concept
at the end of this video you'll
mention why does the
Village of Cary own

(50:13):
a park instead of the park district
and
right now I'm seeing a
I'll make the record
clear I'm not a huge fan of when
municipalities
tinker in
private
things and it has nothing to do with
being a business owner. It just
it takes away for

(50:35):
example in Crystal Lake
when I was younger I would
go mini golfing and my parents would
take me mini golfing. You see no mini golf
places anymore and
Crystal Lake has a
park district ran
mini golf place
and there was one in Crystal Lake by the Walmart
there was one in Woodstock
there was

(50:57):
there was a whole bunch of them now
there's none
and that's
one of the reasons why I'm not a huge fan of
when government
tinker in private
whether it be
forcing the invisible hand
of
progress
or

(51:19):
taking away business opportunities
from
their residents or from other
businesses and that happens
with golf courses that
happens with mini golf courses
that happens with food trucks
that go to a
municipal ran
park
all four community gatherings

(51:41):
it's just you see a going trend
with kneecapping
like in downtown
you're kneecapping business
owners when you have this
municipal ran for instance
their sidecar venture
which is a bar that they want to put up
literally right across the street
from another bar in
downtown

(52:03):
that's on municipal owned property
with
private vendor
but it's just
interesting to me
that
everything must be going so well
and you've done
everything you possibly can to make all
these other services amazing
that you can

(52:25):
start tinkering with
private ventures
and affecting the
invisible hand of how business
operates and succeeds
and that's
not just Cary that's everywhere
not just Crystal Lake that's everywhere
of where you're seeing that
takeover of

(52:51):
the helping hand of government
kneecapping
businesses
in a sense
to where you
you feel it
like there
I'm stuck on the mini golf thing
there was one in McHenry there was one in Woodstock
and there's no
places for our kids to inspire

(53:13):
anymore other than
government ran
mini golf
police
public works
fire
get out of the way after that
make those things really

(53:35):
really strong
make sure
everybody that works there is safe
they go home
and you're the best on the block
then you can start worrying about food trucks
and mini golf
as to the
idea of more special events
and location

(53:57):
that helps
particularly at Cary Lake
I think the idea of
the community
is to have
a community of
people that are
involved in the
community

(54:19):
I think the idea of
the movies is
a neat one
I think Cary Lake
I said it before I think it would be ideal for some sort of
firework show somewhere down the road
it could certainly accommodate an awful lot of
people sitting at the banks
parking would be an issue but then again parking would be an issue
if we had something downtown too
and you drew that many people but

(54:41):
we could do some partnership even with
the park district on some of those type of things
I'd like to see
some of us partner up on different things that we can
bring out I think that people are looking for things
for their families to do
whether it's young children plus
other people that just want other events we do have
some events going on at Lion's Park through the park
district but I think we can utilize
we have a gem here with

(55:03):
Cary Lake
that's a gem that we really like to get people to know
what's there and how can we bring some things
to the public I think that there is a huge
desire to do that but I like the public
private partnership idea
of some of these things so
I think with some of the changes we're making downtown
we're also going to have some additional opportunities to
focus some more events down there
whether they're arts events whether they're

(55:25):
entertainment events whether it's a combination
Right and we've
talked to many different people now with
the addition of the new
Glenneke Family Plaza
Community Family Plaza which is going to be starting
construction this year we will have a pavilion
there so
our goal my goal is to get the
youth of the community involved in the downtown
and be part of it

(55:47):
get them out of their
parents basements with bands and their garages
and put on little shows
for neighborhoods to get people involved to come out
and they will have seating
there will be permanent seating
there but bring some chairs
and just go sit and encourage the kids
to get involved and that parlayes
into what we've been doing with the school district
with the art that we have

(56:09):
on some of our facilities
we have business owners downtown that
have given us a thumbs up
to put them on their buildings so
this is really something that we've
discussed with district 26
as well as 155 for
music and art and they're thrilled
to be able to be part of this so
I think this is going to be a very exciting
time for us this next year when this

(56:31):
all gets completed downtown
and we'll create a whole new
a charming small time
vibe down there so we're excited
about that and I think that
with the implementation of
a community or the
arts and entertainment community that will really
help us step it up
a little bit.
For the record you heard the

(56:53):
term public private partnership
P3 or
PPP
that's something you'll probably hear more of on this
show for the record I'm not a fan
of it.
It's
messy sometimes
if it's not done right
to say the least and
I think

(57:15):
there's a more graceful way of doing
it to where you don't have all your fingers
in
public private
partnerships
when done correctly are beautiful
but
more times than not they're messy
and that's something you'll hear more about
for the record I'm not a huge fan of them

(57:37):
because
I think there's a more graceful
way of doing it to inspire
private
to come into your community rather than
you're going to work with us.
So well done.
As it
relates to
paving
keep forgetting this

(57:59):
the paving piece
that's been mentioned many many times
I just wonder is
there an opportunity
if we look at paving which I'm guessing
we will probably sooner
rather than later to have some sort
of an area where around the
pavilion you might have
the opportunity for people to buy bricks
you know with their names on it

(58:21):
as part of a memorial
and maybe help
the integration of asphalt
into that to make it look a little
bit nicer. I mean you see that in a lot
of places but
and you'll see it in a couple weeks when you go to Disney World
right when you just walk in
I just think it's something
that's a little unique and
I know certainly many people would buy

(58:43):
a brick to memorialize
that. And we're getting a lot of
activity down there too. People have
requested permits to do family
events down there at the utilizing
the new pavilion there so
it's going to be quite a show place.
As Trustee Dutek would say it's going to be
a jam in our community
so we're looking forward to
creating some really fun things down there too.

(59:07):
If you've noticed
in this presentation
the Rotary Park
has been
they spent the majority
of the time so far on
Rotary Park and that's time that
could have been allocated into
police, public works,
fire,
other services

(59:31):
making it easier for you to
put in addition making it
potentially fun
experience for you to put on in addition
like hey congratulations we're excited
have a welcoming packet
and because
right now I'm looking at
the summary of revenues

(59:55):
from 16 to 23
licenses and permits
and you're looking at
264,000, 157,000
and it hovers below
500,000
300,000
and

(01:00:17):
that
like if you're running
things that tight to where you need to
facilitate
somebody that's already
like they're wanting to invest into their property
in their home
and then they have to navigate
licensing and permitting
in a certain way
and then they have to navigate

(01:00:39):
licensing and permitting
in a certain way
to where it might even
discourage them to do it or want them
to do it off the books
now you're doing stuff
because in my eyes
licensing and permits
like maybe it's just because I came from the fire end of it
it's about safety

(01:01:01):
and making sure
like that electrical was put in right
like we all seen the videos I don't know if you have
but home inspectors coming in
and be like that's not right
that's not right
it's about
making sure that
no fires are started
everything's on the up and up
rather than slowly driving by

(01:01:23):
and being like
you know
you can't
you can't store that there
and stuff like that
it's about
making sure that a fire doesn't start
making sure that
it's done properly to where if there is a fire
the firefighters are safe
and it's not like exposed wiring and stuff

(01:01:45):
so
the most
amount of time has been spent
on rotary park
give it to the park district
and say have fun with it
that's their wheelhouse that's what they do

(01:02:07):
and focus on providing
services and
making things more efficient
now more than ever
we need that

(01:02:37):
maybe one moment while I pull it back up
some of the utility cabinets
throughout the village
with some art
these are banner concept designs
that were submitted to us with
through corbin

(01:02:59):
as part of our entryway
waste fighting signage and banner program
we would
we've budgeted to purchase these next year
to replace our old worn out ones
that we put on downtown
and we're going to put them in on rail 14
so we're hoping
that everybody enjoys the new fresh look
it's a little bit of a unique take
compared to what most communities have on their banners

(01:03:21):
and I think it will
complement what we have downtown very well
is that 5,000 for all the lights
and all the poles
just the signage on the street
poles are there already right
and we would just be
rotating them based on the season
correct
old

(01:03:45):
I would say they're over about 10 years old
they're starting to rip
it's
showing signs of age
can I go back
real quick to the
wrap
question
and mayor you probably remember this
from a number

(01:04:07):
of years ago
I brought this up at one point in time
about the potential of
making one of our water towers
look like a golf ball
because we have so many golf courses in town
I don't know if this is
true or not but my guess is
per capita we may have more golf courses
than any other
town in McHenry County

(01:04:29):
probably something good for us
to take a look to see if that's the case
and
you know I know we go through
so often the repainting of
those towers and they're very
very expensive
you guys know can
a water tower be
wrapped is that something you've
either seen other communities do

(01:04:51):
or maybe we could at least
look at and see if it's feasible
I don't think so
you don't think so? No
because of the condensation
okay because of
the temperature change and the condensation
that builds up
special approved paint
got it okay thanks for letting me know I didn't
know that

(01:05:13):
so much for that idea I'll come up with another one
hey if you don't throw it out there
you know
we need to know what people are thinking
I still think it'd be interesting
to find out if we have more golf courses
in town
only
one of them is within the village carry
yeah
if it says carry in their address

(01:05:35):
they live in carry
so
we received
a lot of compliments over our
new holiday decorations this past
year
we would like to continue that momentum
and purchase looking to purchasing
more for future years so that way we'd have
a variety that we could rotate
in and out

(01:05:57):
I am gonna just
provide one comment on
that comment about
the golf ball on the water tower
I like the fact that
he
was
wanting to say that and
providing
a way of

(01:06:19):
one it would get people
to come in
if you want to position yourself as
the place to play golf
that's not necessarily
a bad idea
I like the method of thinking
with that
I'm not married to the fact of golfing
but the fact that

(01:06:41):
that mindset of
hey how can we
instead of just forcing the hand of
public private
thousand plus apartments and all this
forced hand stuff
what is our identity
and it was said before
by the director of Harry Youth

(01:07:03):
Baseball Softball that we have an identity crisis
like we
we're going through a phase to where
we're getting rid of
historical landmarks we're
scrubbing history from the area
kids are growing up with technology
farmlands going away
retail and stack
stack them pack them

(01:07:25):
high rises are going up
I think the
I like that mindset of that one he was
like willing to say that
and I wouldn't want to have
an environment to where
you would feel
that you wouldn't want to bring
something up

(01:07:47):
I wouldn't want to have the
environment to where
even if you think in your head that it's stupid
say it because that might lead to
something great
so
I like that he said that
and it has nothing
to do with golf it has nothing to do with
spitballing now do I wish that they were spending
more time on when they went through police

(01:08:09):
public works
other services that
are fundamental of
why government exists
yeah they turned
and burned through those and now we're talking about
paddle up movies

(01:08:31):
so we're not always putting up the same
thing every year
any feedback on the downtown decorations
does the board feel like our
progress momentum is going
as desired
like I said
I've heard nothing but positive
while they're impressed
and it wasn't that expensive to do

(01:08:53):
thanks Steve
thanks Preach
it's hard to say they are
they're pretty thick they are heavy
so
if it's just the weather I would hope we could get
at least 10 years out of them but being downtown
that's why we
have lower amounts in the out years
to plan for if we have to replace stuff

(01:09:17):
and you're talking
we talked about early on in the panic stage
you're going to rotate some of the stuff out
some of the new stuff will be
in different themes that kind of
just so everybody knows that it's now going to be
the same
so this $20,000 is not just for Christmas
it could be for other things
well this is for the holiday decorations
Halloween

(01:09:39):
Easter what are you
this is open discussion
if you'd like to see some other types of decorations
for other things
I'll say that the
decorations that we did
the snowmen
the candy canes
the
ornaments

(01:10:01):
these are
commercial grade
decorations so that $20,000
fades out very quickly
how expensive these are
these are pretty reasonable
scale and price
not cheap but reasonable
obviously the sky's the limit you could spend
a lot more money than that

(01:10:23):
if desired
but I think without overwhelming
the look and the feel of our downtown
this is a good start
and we don't want it to get too
gaudy
we have to live within our means
I do think
Halloween has become
just huge
in the United States

(01:10:45):
and yeah
it just takes you from Halloween right to Christmas
you don't even forget about Thanksgiving anymore
but that's something
that I think we
should look at if we have some place
to hold it you know
I don't know what kind of event to do
I don't have young kids anymore so I don't know what they do nowadays
but Halloween
would be something I'd like to see us explore

(01:11:07):
a little bit more
the plaza should be done by then we could do something
down there
the Chamber of Commerce does do a big event
for children they do a big Halloween walk
and they don't do it downtown
anywhere because they feel like there's a lot of other activities
that focus on downtown so they do it
through the plaza through the jewel plaza
everyone walks through there
but I think with Halloween and stuff I do think that

(01:11:29):
that could be something you engage the business
community with down there
and you could have people that go in and say hey I'm going to
decorate different light poles
you know I mean come up with some
even a fun contest there's again I would
love to see us cooperate with some of the businesses
down there and see if they'd be interested in
partnering with us on something like that
and then we have the ability now
to shut the street down whenever we'd like to

(01:11:51):
with all the balusters and things that we have
and the safety devices
that make an event over the
Saturday or something a Halloween costume contest
or something just getting more people downtown
This presentation
this is the budget meeting for the Village of Cary
and we're just watching and providing commentary
this whole

(01:12:13):
presentation
is if you
noticed they laid it out
Public Works, police
and now
it's talking about
swim up
paddleboard movie nights
and golf ball water towers
ornaments

(01:12:37):
and there's been a considerable more amount
of time spent on
stuff that
necessarily doesn't help
the
person living off of Social Security
or paycheck to paycheck or
even if they're
just doesn't
move the needle

(01:12:59):
for
and this is
operating capital budget
the workshop
I understand it's a workshop
but I mean
you have some pretty
heavy duty stuff
to be going over
and the beginning

(01:13:21):
was
boom, boom, boom, now it's
ornaments and candy canes
which is fun, that's like
my wheelhouse, I love that stuff
first principles
municipal corporation
governing

(01:13:45):
police
public works
fire
and
get out of the way
take the opportunity
to throw themselves the first time
and that doesn't mean that I'm not
for creative

(01:14:07):
and living inspired like I love
for the record
I love the oversized ornaments
I think that looks awesome
I'm all
about that, that's good purchase
stuff that makes kids see
this is

(01:14:29):
represents the village code, this is 800 pages
long
in here
it says a business
cannot have an attraction, a tension
getting device
but
they can plop down something
oversized ornaments on a sidewalk

(01:14:53):
so I think there's a fundamental
shift that needs to be made to where
you need to
play nice in the sandbox
focus on
police, fire, public works
clean water, like we
had

(01:15:15):
lead pipe issues
with 200 plus
pipes remaining to be replaced
and that was about
20 minutes ago in this presentation
we spent maybe 2 minutes on it
and we've spent
probably a half hour on

(01:15:37):
candy canes
candy canes
so
does it move the needle, it makes you feel good
warm, fuzzy
I'm all for that
and you know I love
that stuff
but
first principles boil it down
you're here to provide services

(01:16:01):
provide police response
make sure that they stay safe
they go home, not a police state
let's take a look at
public works, water quality
what's in the water
fire, make sure they're supported
make sure they have the training assets

(01:16:23):
and
everything
I'd like to see this whole thing
flipped and like
the amount of time they spent
on
road
park, downtown
to be spent on stuff that actually affects
your street

(01:16:45):
it won't be the last time
in any of these budget years
I will remain focused on
the scope of what we should
what's our core competency
and coming from a household that decorates
for every holiday
I would be more inclined
to do the longest
single holiday season
one time and do it right

(01:17:07):
and then move on
because number one, to be
fiscally responsible, I don't know that
it's our business
as a community to decorate the entire downtown
for Valentine's Day and then St. Patrick's Day
and then Easter
let's stick to what we do
I would not be
disappointed if we didn't do any
to be perfectly frank, I do like it, I enjoy it

(01:17:29):
I go down there and see it
I feel like we need to make
sure that we're focusing on the priorities
that were just listed to us five or six slides
earlier, so again this is
just discussion purposes, but
I'm comfortable with these numbers seeing
what came in last year, to expand
upon that I would have to be thoroughly convinced
that it's going to be a worthwhile investment
I see that, thank you

(01:17:51):
great answer
thank you
moving on to our community signage
we've been working, as Steve
mentioned earlier on our wayfinding signage
we're finalizing the last details
of that
over the next five years we're hoping
to implement some of these
signs, including the subdivision signs
and additional landscaping

(01:18:13):
around our entryway signs
we propose
the funds be allocated for the new
subdivision signs and would anticipate
two signs to be installed
in the upcoming
fiscal year with one sign
there after
the reason for the
two signs in the first fiscal year is there's two
signs that are in immediate need of

(01:18:35):
replacement that we would look to replace
with this upcoming budget
year, and then
as far as wayfinding signage we would budget
$100,000 for the first year
of wayfinding sign and an additional
$75,000 in the
next fiscal year, with the
remainder of $50,000 to finish
off all signage
for the wayfinding sign project

(01:18:57):
I would really like to have the wayfinding
signs especially with the parking and
things like that for the downtown
that should be our first priority
I agree
well this has all been derived
from our strategic plan downtown
that we're missing that
I'll say it again, every time
we don't have a problem with
parking downtown, we have a problem telling

(01:19:19):
people where they can park downtown
we have ample parking, we just
need to get people
in the habit of going to the places
including the metro line
after 1130 every day, it's free on the weekends
but I think this
will create more of a
informational thing and I agree
with Trustee McAlpine that the
wayfinding signage is critical

(01:19:41):
I'd put that above replacing
subdivision signs
and I would add to that just for definition sake
wayfinding signs are not just
here's where to drive for this parking
include that in the conversation
when we're talking about Main Street
and Route 14, having more
abundant, good signage
that tells people that you can't
go straight into Main Street from the

(01:20:03):
right lane of westbound 14
you know, having more
signage, I don't want to
be overindulgent, but the more signage we can have
at that intersection, my god, the better it
can be, so moving
that up to the Mayor's comments, moving that up
as a priority above subdivision signs, I would
agree with the heart of me.
You all beat me to the punch here, but

(01:20:25):
you can see it.
Again, these are just ideas
that the community has noted
that we've been working on for years
and we have an opportunity to
And they're talking about wayfinding
signage about $200,000, $300,000
over the course of three years
and they
you kind of saw it right there in real time

(01:20:47):
of how they wrapped it in
to where
you just saw it.
So
right in where you live, subdivisions
that's over here now.
Downtown, wayfinding
signage, $300,000
over the next three years

(01:21:09):
$300,000
Now they just justified that with
well, it's about the safety of that intersection.
So now that's going to get bumped up.

(01:21:31):
I love
the, you don't want to
put the cart before the horse
and have
all these
you've seen it with a whole bunch of
towns that put up
wayfinding signage and stuff.
And it is a great
educational tool for that
impulse or to educate

(01:21:53):
the driver on where to park
and stuff like that.
It would be interesting to see how that
matures over the next few meetings.
Like if you back up.

(01:22:43):
Yeah, we'll have to see how that matures and
I mean if you look at it
subdivision signs
$15,000, $6,000, $8,000

(01:23:05):
but
wayfinding signage
$108,75, $90,000

(01:23:34):
Yeah, it boils down to
being present
and
common sense
and not putting the
cart before the horse
to where

(01:24:01):
Yeah, if you look at the subdivision signs
it's one, two, three, four, five
they're going out five years with
average $10,000
spends versus wayfinding
signage. First year
it's $109,000.
So this
it's a downtown play with
well it's about

(01:24:23):
the safety of the intersection.
I'm all for downtown
play with
I'm all for wayfinding signage
just the dance that I can't stand sometimes.
Well, this is Alvin.
Second phase
would be signage within IDOT

(01:24:45):
or McKenna County DOT
right away
in order to have adequate time for permitting
and coordination with them.
Few projects that are
within the CIP
this is a future unfunded project
US Route 14
illuminated street signs
it is shovel ready
similar to the ones that were installed on

(01:25:07):
West Main near High Road with the downtown project
conceptual cost for this project
is approximately $160,000
and as I mentioned it is
$60,000
and it's a
$60,000
and as I mentioned it is
currently unfunded but is shovel ready.

(01:25:37):
I believe all these signs are
along
14, so three oaks
West Main, first
Jandus
Jandus
West Main, East Main Street too.
Yeah, this is
something we've been working on
since 2009.
That cost is for all the signs?

(01:25:59):
For one?
That's the estimate for all of them.
Again, these are all things that
they're nice to have but it's not
a need.
We also always look at opportunities
for grants or things like that.
I mean, that's something that I think that our
staff needs to be commended on.
What a great job they do with
always going and finding out things that could possibly

(01:26:21):
help offset cost to do these type of things
that are unfunded.
Just as a look at the signs.
They would mirror the ones that are
currently in downtown at High Road
and South Main Street.

(01:26:47):
14.

(01:27:13):
You would think, we propose
that to the state
and they turned us down. I think we were
going to pay for it. And they said no
because it's the public, it's the states.
They won't give us the right. I was
in Springfield last week and meeting
with the legislators and
we were talking about
some of our projects and
we all kind of honed in on Downtown Cary

(01:27:35):
and all of us there
and they were very intrigued at the
amount of interest through the region
that was had on that.
So hopefully maybe we can get
something that's a little bit more
substantial.
We do have some signs coming, some changes.
Yes, and that is
in the presentation a little bit further.
No, that's okay. What they are doing

(01:27:57):
is part of the project
and then exactly what you mentioned.
Here we are ping ponging.
Hey, we got an ask
and answer, right?
Yeah.
Anything
else before? No, go ahead.
Continuing on the
community signage and streetlights,
just summarizing this,

(01:28:19):
all of the
additional
items that we just mentioned,
here's their outline
forecasted cost. One of the
items that we didn't mention was
the LED streetlight replacement
that would just be converting
existing streetlights that are
not LED to LED.
And I believe we have approximately

(01:28:41):
120
lights remaining that need
replacement into LED.
So that currently is
fiscal year 28-29.
And out of the 120, those are our
lights, they're not combat lights.
Correct. So this would not
technically do the entire village.
It's just ours
that have our responsibility. Correct. Thank you.

(01:29:11):
Focusing on the community and economic
development items within the CIP,
one item that we've heard
from the remaining that need.
I was just going through
this slide, events,
Cary Main Street Fest partnership.
That's a study
at 25,000, public art, 7,000
for 25-26

(01:29:33):
fiscal year, and then it
goes to
5,000, and then
fiscal year 27-28, 35,000.
Then it drops back down to
5,000.
Banners, 5,000.
Entryway signage, landscape
enhancement,
35,000 for 25-26,
and then I believe that says 85,000

(01:29:55):
for 26-27.
Then it drops back down for 5,000.
Illuminated street,
street name signs
that they've been,
they said they were, been working on
since 2009
along 14.

(01:30:17):
Looks like they have that on the 26-28-29
projected.
28-29 projected.
LED streetlight
replacement
28-29 for
100,000.

(01:30:43):
And then downtown holiday
decorations kind of
falls off
there after
20,000
through
25-26 and 27.
And then the wayfinding
signage is your,

(01:31:05):
it's like a little over
200,000 dollar investment
for wayfinding signage over the next
three years.
So that's
the
replacement
and LED.
So that currently is fiscal year
28 plan.
All of the

(01:31:27):
streetlight
plans that were both approved in 2021
for the Ogonquin Cary
Sub-area plan around Route 31.
And then the downtown Cary
strategic plan was also adopted in
2021.
The next fiscal year we're proposing
a small item for
potential amendments to look at the

(01:31:49):
comprehensive plans and not a full rewrite
of the plan. But potentially looking
at areas of the plan that may need
additional review.
Just for comparison, the two
sub-area plans that were done for
the Route 31 corridor in downtown,
those both cost about 120,000
dollars. So the
50,000 dollars budget here would be
significantly less than a full document

(01:32:11):
from that standpoint. But
providing some funds in the
CIP to potentially study that
and can have additional discussion with the board
as far as what the scope of that would be
as we move forward throughout
the fiscal year.
That
this comprehensive plan amendment
and strategic priorities update
that

(01:32:33):
the comprehensive plan was done by
a third party for
it was done by a third party
out of the city of Chicago
that has offices
out in LA
as well.
And the, if you look here
they're wanting to update the plan.
So the comprehensive
plan for 2526 would be

(01:32:55):
an additional 80
I believe that says 80,000.
And then strategic
priorities update would be another
5,000.
So
just

(01:33:17):
laying it out
we looked at that
document. The comprehensive
plan was a document that was done by
a third party.
It was 100,000 dollars to make.
It was 98 pages long.
Literally a thousand dollars a page.
Including the blank pages.
And now they want to
re-tap it

(01:33:39):
for 80,000.
I'd be interested to see
why they need to go back to the drawing board.
What was wrong, what was right.
With that and why they feel the need
to pretty much have
80,000 is
it's blurry here for me.
So if it is 80,000
that's pretty much redoing
it all over again.

(01:34:01):
That's
spinning your wheels.
In my book.
Another item that's also

(01:34:23):
anticipated for the budget
would be to host or
perform a strategic
priorities workshop
with the board. To focus
on potential
future goals of the community.
As far as things that the board
would like to see
the community work towards within
our strategic

(01:34:45):
objectives. And also
for planning purposes
from that standpoint if there's certain things that
the board would like to see
continue to be focused on in the upcoming years.
And for reference
the last time the village did a
workshop and a full refresh of
a strategic plan was December of 2014.
So that also has been quite some
time. And the numbers shown

(01:35:07):
here in the CIP aren't
for a full loan workshop
but more of a focus workshop.
Similar to one that I actually just participated
in as part of our
board of directors for Naturally McHenry
County.
Speaking of Naturally McHenry County
which is our destination
marketing organization and
visitors bureau for the region.

(01:35:29):
So right now the village of Cary is a
partner with I'll say
NMC just to make it shorter
here so the presentation doesn't get
longer. And NMC did
give us our 2024 marketing report.
So we're happy to show that for our
$10,000 investment we actually
received the equivalent of about $63,000
of marketing which included
social media, website, influencer

(01:35:51):
campaigns which featured a few
videos focused on our
downtown, our farmers market and
some local restaurants as well as
other digital advertising.
Our current partnership as I mentioned is
level one or about $10,000.
I'm looking to see if the board is
interested in continuing that partnership.
You can see here this is what

(01:36:13):
is entailed with that. It did feature the
photography sessions
many of which were used in updating
our welcome
video and our website and our economic
development website as well as the other
advertising initiatives that
were in
cooperation with the other county
partners as well. There are options
for other partnerships that go up between

(01:36:35):
$20,000 and $30,000 but
at this point staff is recommending
maintaining the current level one partnership.
But there is one a la carte
option that could be considered and that is if
the village board was interested in a
community or Cary specific
entertainment or
entertainment or
entertainment or something like that.
There is a mini guide.

(01:36:57):
The city of McHenry just recently
finished one with NMC and
there is a print edition as well as a
digital edition so it includes a lot of
additional photography and
the entire guide. Unlike the
guide that goes countywide,
it would entail just Cary specific
entertainment, restaurant and
visitor based
entertainment.

(01:37:19):
So it's a little bit different than the
one that we have on the
county level one partnership on top of
our $10,000 partnership or the option
could be to go to a level three
partnership maybe for one year and go
back to level one in the subsequent year.
The level three partnership includes the
mini guide.
My question with that is how does that
compare with the Chamber of Commerce

(01:37:41):
as a community guide? I don't want to
double dip and spend extra money if
I'm not mistaken but I would
community guide would be
more about the types of businesses
whereas this would be a more graphic
based kind of thing that you would
hand to someone visiting you from
out of town or that you would
bring to a meeting with a
prospective developer or a

(01:38:03):
business looking to move into town.
It does support not just the
visitors that come to the community
but also it supports the
what's really great about our
workshop, the workforce aspect of it is
important as well.
I think I'd like to see what one of
them looks like and compare it.
Sure I can send the board the link
to the McHenry version of it and

(01:38:25):
we can talk about it further.
I'm sorry Eric.
Do you mind going back one?
Thanks.
Is this, does this
include us, our town
having advertisement
in their mailings like how they send out
the Naturally McHenry County

(01:38:47):
magazine?
Yes.
So that guy that you're
referencing, that's kind of the full
county wide version so the community guide would be
similar to that but just about carry.
Okay so how often do they
mail those magazines
out? They do the book once a year.
Oh it's only once a year? I feel like I get it.
The regional is once

(01:39:09):
a year, they would do one specifically
for carry.
I don't know if that would be, you know,
this is still kind of new to us.
We took many years to decide
to do this and it's been very,
I think it's money well spent.
We've gotten a lot of recommendations from people.
Just the videos that they
put on social media really
highlighting what's going on in the community.

(01:39:31):
They kind of went corner to corner
and really included a lot of different
interesting
ideas that people are commenting
about. I didn't know that carry had that.
So that's what we want. We want the people to come in
into the town. So I think that
I would be, if it was up to me
I'd recommend that we stay where we are for now
and kind of just see how this goes
into the next year and see, you know,

(01:39:53):
keeping our eye on the ball, making
sure that we're getting our bang for a buck.
But this has been something that we considered
for a long time when we finally pulled
the trigger last year. And it's been good.
I think if you look at the statistics
that we have from this, it really
shows that we're getting more,
a lot more people coming into town, which is
what we want. I'm going to trust the McAlpine
mention the Chamber does already,

(01:40:15):
but get them to step up their game a little bit
and put some graphics in there.
Right? Yeah.
Continuing with
economic development projects,
kind of the largest one that's in
the CIP budget for
potential impact

(01:40:37):
in the community is the Maplewood Access Road.
As the board is aware,
we did start in the Phase 1 design
that was paused
temporarily as we were working through
land ownership issues or
design issues with the school district
regarding the Maplewood site.
Now that the property is transferred,
the village owns the property, we're able to

(01:40:59):
resume completion
of the Phase 1 portion of the project.
So this year, we
will be completing that with additional
open houses for
community feedback on the final
design alternative
for the roadway.
And then also looking to begin Phase 2
of that project, which would be the actual
design of the roadway,

(01:41:21):
construction drawings and any
potential property acquisition that would be necessary
for that. That would
align with potential redevelopment
of the Maplewood property
with the construction of that roadway
potentially occurring in
tandem over the next three
fiscal years.
This slide gives

(01:41:43):
some additional information as far as other
programs that are budgeted within the CIP
for community development.
We continue
the Facade Grant Program
that we implemented this year
with funding for the next several
years, again, with budgeted
numbers specifically coming from the TIF
for up to four grants within the
TIF and also

(01:42:05):
outside the TIF for up to
two and a half grants based on the maximum
of 10 grand per
project. This year
we've been able to
issue three grants
for projects within the community
thus far. Also
other projects to highlight in the
budget also includes funding
for economic development which include

(01:42:27):
retaining
the economic development specialist
and also attending trade shows
and other efforts for
attracting businesses to the community
and then the information
described previously
for the Maplewood access road and the
potential for the community guide
if desired.
Your suggestions as it relates to technology

(01:42:57):
and included in the fiscal year 25-26 budget.
The $42,000 a year for the
GIS systems that are used primarily by
Public Works.
The installation, an addition
of a camera that would show the
individual presenting
to the village board.
Updating our

(01:43:19):
desktop, laptop
computers that
aren't able to run
Windows 11.
Microsoft stops supporting
Windows 10 in October
of 2025
and we anticipate that some of the
desktops and laptops
won't be able to run the
operating system and

(01:43:41):
the IT consultant
has
produced a replacement system
that would
relocate some of the current
computers that are
in use and then purchase new
computers for
uses such as our record section
that have to now
redact body worn cameras

(01:44:03):
video.
The telephone system service
is set for next
budget year and the year after that
the current telephone system that we have now
was relocated
from our old village hall.
So it's difficult to find
handsets and things of that nature
and it's due for a replacement.
As you heard we've

(01:44:25):
implemented our body worn camera and in car
video systems and that
comes with additional
cost of $40,000 a year for
the next four years.
And then
there's a five year agreement that
we're in with Motorola Solutions
and we have to renegotiate another
agreement at the
fifth year which is fiscal year 2930.

(01:44:47):
Currently we use
older tasers
they're X26P's
they're no longer available.
We buy them refurbished and
the replacements of taser 10
but they've gone to a different
type of pricing
schedule where it's more
of a license than it is to purchase the equipment
which is why we've been a little bit resistant

(01:45:09):
in terms of procuring
the taser replacements but that's
$11,000 a year as we use
them. Our current portable
radios were acquired
2016
they're due for replacement
and that again would be
a large
purchase of $240,000
and again with the new

(01:45:31):
pricing schemes that are
in some of these vendors
there's a $3,000
licensing cost
from that point forward
and in the next
fiscal year 2627
upgrade of our
software for the cemetery management.

(01:45:53):
I just wanted to
I made the comment
earlier about I wanted to see
this whole thing flipped. I thought the presentation
was shorter, we're an hour
into a two hour and 40
minute presentation.
I made the comment that I wanted to see more time spent
on police fire
fire as a protection district
so it doesn't really necessarily

(01:46:15):
pertain to the municipality although
I would like to see them brought in on the conversation
but
I just wanted to make
the correction of it is
nice to see them touching back
on this stuff rather than just ending with
feel good stuff
so it is good to
hear the chief there talk
about their position

(01:46:37):
and where they
wanting to go.
I just wanted to let you know about
that and
admit that I was too soon
to speak on that one.
When I interject and I
provide commentary or
critiques
I like to
to move

(01:46:59):
to raise the tide
for all ships
and that's a cliche but
it's really
you can't even see me talking
it's
when I interject I
want to provide context
first and foremost but then also
if I see something that
is

(01:47:21):
maybe a little foggy
for the viewer at home
that's when I like to say something
if I see something that doesn't align with
where I think we need to
tighten the screws a little bit
that's when I will also
voice up and I would like for you
at home to also voice up as well
feel free to call and or text
I will probably

(01:47:43):
split this into two
since we're coming up on
eleven
we'll probably do the
the old not that I planned on
having that viewership
technique of like well you got to tune in tomorrow night
but we'll probably
end this at eleven and then
the community comments will probably be
in tomorrow's show

(01:48:05):
so it'll be at nine o'clock tomorrow
so let's
listen to what else they have for us
up until eleven and feel
free to text or call with your comments
focusing on a couple projects

(01:48:27):
from the CIP for the
downtown area
downtown improvements this year
the village will be beginning
work on the community plaza
on Hatchman's for where the old
depot station was located
as
for the folks now it's the village that
receive a approximately
four hundred seventy thousand dollar grant from the

(01:48:49):
RTA through the CMAC
program and also a private
donation to assist with
redevelopment
I may
have spoke to you soon this is where you start to see
the P3 private
partner private
public private

(01:49:11):
partnership and
the
facilitating like what I spoke of earlier
about the mini golf the golf courses
the when government
comes in and starts
to run things that takes away from
the invisible hand of that person
that wants to start
a
something or

(01:49:33):
you know even in this case like you
look across the street
and you have a long standing
business and then you
have a
facilitated
municipal project
here on
municipal property
right next to private property that road
which is

(01:49:55):
interesting and
now they're competing
with private
and diluting
so
let's see what
what they have to say here
are the

(01:50:17):
enhancement of that area
and beginning in this
year summer
we will be reconstructing
that area with a new plaza
pavilion area
outdoor fireplace and seating walls
another area that residents will be able to congregate
in the downtown
for enjoyment of
the downtown environment

(01:50:39):
and this slide
provides a different perspective
of the proposed improvements
again trying to enhance
the physical presence of downtown
continue the streetscape work that was completed
this last year to provide
another gathering space that will bleed
into future projects as well
then the third phase of the

(01:51:01):
whole downtown
development are the
just going
back to this slide here
you'll see all these little
brown squares here are
I believe seating
areas
and where this
conceptual
view on the bottom left hand corner

(01:51:23):
of this rendering
is that ironically covers
up the tracks there
is where they have
a leased
municipal
owned property
that they are leasing for $500
a month

(01:51:45):
to a vendor
to sell alcohol
so now you have a municipality
with its own liquor license
to sell alcohol
or giving
well it's actually layered
it's more layered than that you have a municipality

(01:52:07):
leasing
for $500 a month
which is amazing
it gets messy
so imagine you own the tracks
right
and you're like wow they're
doing a lot of great stuff in downtown

(01:52:29):
and they're
at least they're
putting attention in the downtown
and some would say that's great stuff
some would say it wouldn't that's why I want to hear your voices
imagine you own the tracks
and now

(01:52:51):
the city that you decided to set up shop at
is leasing land
directly across the street from you
to sell something that you have
that's where I don't align with
the public private partnerships
is that I saw it early on
like with the mini golf thing in Crystal Lake

(01:53:13):
I was like okay
Crystal Lake goes to the
mini golf place
and now I see
1, 2, 3, 4, 5 different mini golf
places close
due to
hardship through 2020
through

(01:53:35):
and that's a good example
of
I don't think the tracks is going to close
because of this
it's just kind of
in poor taste I think
let me know what you think

(01:54:01):
the enhancement of that area
and beginning
in this year
summer we will be
reconstructing that area with a new
plaza, pavilion area
outdoor fireplace
and seating wall another area that residents
will be able to congregate in the downtown
for
enjoyment of the downtown environment

(01:54:25):
and this slide provides a different
perspective of the proposed
improvements again
trying to enhance the physical
presence of downtown and continue the
streetscape work that was completed this last year
to provide another gathering space
that will bleed into future projects as well
then the third phase
of the whole downtown

(01:54:47):
enhancements includes
Al Fresco alley enhancements
we would anticipate
and budget for design of the Al Fresco
alley improvements
in the upcoming fiscal year with
anticipated construction to be
fiscal year 26 and 27
total budget
amount includes 87,500
for design engineering

(01:55:09):
and approximately $770,000
for construction
can I ask a question
those swing gates
is there anything that would
stop a vehicle
from driving down
through there?
that would not

(01:55:31):
and I'm glad you mentioned that
this was an initial concept rendering
we haven't done any sort of design
so once we do the design
anything you see here
like the container box
that's there obviously that's been considered
elsewhere within the village so once we start
design we'll get into more of those details but something
like those swing gates
would not

(01:55:53):
so when you guys are looking
for budgeting this is there
I don't know any of the design
information for this but
is there something that you guys would make sure
that they would be implemented so that a vehicle
couldn't go drive down there?
Recently
in this current fiscal year
we purchased a vehicular
intrusion barrier

(01:56:15):
I forget what their official name is
but we would be able to place something
like that in front of Spring Street
thank you
and also
just like the previous phase with the
downtown plaza the
Al Fresco alley
we also include a grant that we have received
so as Director
Noonan mentioned we haven't gone through the design phase

(01:56:37):
to determine exactly what the amenities will be
that will come soon
but this price point that we're proposing here
is based on the amount of the grant that we're expected
to receive
and I thought I'd
just say a few things about
this this is
we're saying that the money is coming from a grant
$80,000 to

(01:56:59):
improve
the Al Fresco alley
and
we all seen the
vehicles do their
thing the barriers that they were talking about are
meant to be temporary
they're the ones that capture the
vehicle and they do better
when they're chained together

(01:57:21):
that would not I don't think
that would be a good fix here personally
and I think they know that
but
how they have it set up now is
with
movable heavy planters
and stuff
when you have it's this is
different you have folks sitting
not paying attention to their surroundings

(01:57:43):
I think you have a higher responsibility
when you have folks
sitting instead of like a gathering
it should be the same on
both high responsibility but
especially so here
you see
like I'd like to see
not only those
you have to assume that those
barriers move and shift

(01:58:05):
I'd like to see
that also like
if they do
decide to do this
depending on how things turn out
to also have something
that's architecturally
appealing
and that could be
just heavy ass planters or
something that's

(01:58:27):
engineered
to be like yeah I'm not moving
if you try to hit me
also on the sidewalks
including the street
to where
you know you can
sit down and not have to be watching
your six all the time
so that's one thing I'd like to see
them do here so that we

(01:58:49):
don't
run into any
issues with that
but let me know what you think
about the Al Fresco alley and
these investments that they're making.
Summarize the downtown improvements

(01:59:11):
the items highlighted in pink are
two items that
we didn't have slides on
and that's the electrical vehicle
charging station
$60,000 in fiscal year
28 and 29
and then
like we just mentioned
proposing additional
modular anti-vehicle intrusion

(01:59:33):
barriers that's their official
name $105,000
for those and the
purpose of that is so that we could close off
both areas of the thoroughfare.
Does that $105,000 include the trailer?
It does not.
We were talking with
Superintendent Copax
that we would just
move a set

(01:59:55):
and while our team was
setting them up we'd take the trailer back
and grab the additional
appreciate that.
And then how many
electric vehicle charging stations
is that for the $60,000?
About $60,000
about?
That conceptual estimate was
to include two stations

(02:00:17):
which would cover
four parking spaces in a six hour lot.
You might recall the public
works department in house was able to
place conduit prior to the resurfacing of the lot
so that we could get electricity
to that location without having to
upset the recently
recent payment work there.
Part of this too
we have an

(02:00:39):
opportunity through
Metropolitan Mayor's Caucus
was put in charge of
awarding grants for EV charging
stations but that's on hold right now.
But this is a perfect
example of something the Village could apply for
to offset that cost.
This is exactly what we're trying to
promote.
So we'll wait and see right now.

(02:01:03):
Next
we have our anticipated roadway improvement
project.
I'll end it there since it's
coming up on 11 o'clock.
That was
the budget workshop for the
Village of Cary.
For the
get the actual
discussion on

(02:01:25):
fiscal year 26, fiscal year
2030. That was the
first hour. There's another hour
left to it that we will
view tomorrow and that's where you'll
see the public comments.
And
I'll have the phone line and text
line open to where you are able
to voice
up. What do you think?

(02:01:47):
Do you like it? Do you not like it?
I'm
providing this resource to you
because I want to hear
your voice and I want them to hear your
voice. So
that's what I'm doing here at 11 o'clock
in a warehouse speaking with you. I
appreciate you joining me
for Voices Cary Live. My name is
Randy Scott and I

(02:02:09):
love doing this
for you and I look forward to having the
opportunity to do it in the future
for you for time
to come. And if you
have any questions you can always
email me at voicescary
at proton.me
and we broadcast
I broadcast
live every weekday

(02:02:31):
from 9 p.m.
at 9 p.m. So you can
pencil it in
if you have a comment
or question and you can always leave a voicemail
at that number that's on the
description
and we'll go over whatever you got.
Thank you for joining me tonight for
Voices Cary Live and have a
wonderful evening. Thanks for staying up late

(02:02:53):
and we will see you
tomorrow at 9. Thanks.

(02:03:25):
Who are you calling busted Buster?
That's right
I'm talking to you
Sid Phillips.
We don't like being blown
up Sid. Or smashed
or ripped apart.
That's right. Your toys.

(02:04:09):
So play nice.

(02:04:39):
Bye.